Hi welcome again to your FREE tips from myself Mike at KillerGuitarTips.com
For this week's tip we have a series of three on harmonics.
Harmonics occur over the 5th, 7th and 12th fret and are a natural phenomenon of your instrument.
If you gently touch the string over the fret and pick the string you will play a harmonic. We'll use the 12th fret for this example. DO NOT fret the string, just touch it directly over the fret and pluck the string.
Once plucked you should hear the harmonic note. If you find you get a dull muted sound simply move your finger towards the fret. Keep plucking the string as you move your finger until it becomes clear.
Try this over all the strings at the 12th, 7th and 5th frets.
This killer technique is a 'must know' in your armoury of tricks. Harmonics should be practiced and mastered by all guitarists.
Check out the middle section in U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Give it a try and lots of practice.
Now that you have had chance to practice harmonics I would like to show you how to tune your guitar using this technique.
This is a very easy and accurate way to tune your guitar. Following on from last weeks tip...
The harmonic over the 5th fret on the 6th string is the same pitch as the harmonic over the 7th fret on the 5th string.
When you play the two harmonics together you will hear a wavering sound if the strings aren't in tune with each other. Tune one of the strings - lets say the 5th if the wavering 'speeds up' the string is going further out of tune!! If it 'slows down' its coming into tune - keep tuning until the wavering has stopped. The two strings are then in tune with each other. If you tune too far the wavering will start to speed up again!!
Repeat this method on strings 5 & 4 and 4 & 3.
To tune the 2nd string we be a little innovative. This is because this string is tuned 4 frets higher than the 3rd, the others are tuned 5 frets higher so this technique has to be altered here. Play the harmonic on the 3rd string at the 12th fret this is the G note, then FRET the 8th fret on the 2nd string again the note is G of course! Now use your strumming hand to turn the tuning peg and tune the string!
Back to normal now, tune the 1st string 7th fret harmonic to the 2nd string 5th fret harmonic.
Try this tuning technique with distortion on as this really makes the wavering sound stand out.
This is a great way to tune your guitar and is a much more accurate method than the conventional manual tuning method.
Now we'll move onto the last in this series of three on harmonics. The third is a look at pinched harmonics that's also known at artificial or false harmonics.
To create this type of harmonic we need to touch the string very slightly with the side of the thumb immediately after you have plucked it. To get the best effect you need to have your distortion/overdrive turned on and sounds like a screech. Here is how we do it: Move your picking hand up and down the string whilst picking constantly to find where the different harmonic notes are found.
Listen to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top he's a master of this technique.
Remember practice equals progress!!
For this week's tip we have a series of three on harmonics.
Harmonics occur over the 5th, 7th and 12th fret and are a natural phenomenon of your instrument.
If you gently touch the string over the fret and pick the string you will play a harmonic. We'll use the 12th fret for this example. DO NOT fret the string, just touch it directly over the fret and pluck the string.
Once plucked you should hear the harmonic note. If you find you get a dull muted sound simply move your finger towards the fret. Keep plucking the string as you move your finger until it becomes clear.
Try this over all the strings at the 12th, 7th and 5th frets.
This killer technique is a 'must know' in your armoury of tricks. Harmonics should be practiced and mastered by all guitarists.
Check out the middle section in U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Give it a try and lots of practice.
Now that you have had chance to practice harmonics I would like to show you how to tune your guitar using this technique.
This is a very easy and accurate way to tune your guitar. Following on from last weeks tip...
The harmonic over the 5th fret on the 6th string is the same pitch as the harmonic over the 7th fret on the 5th string.
When you play the two harmonics together you will hear a wavering sound if the strings aren't in tune with each other. Tune one of the strings - lets say the 5th if the wavering 'speeds up' the string is going further out of tune!! If it 'slows down' its coming into tune - keep tuning until the wavering has stopped. The two strings are then in tune with each other. If you tune too far the wavering will start to speed up again!!
Repeat this method on strings 5 & 4 and 4 & 3.
To tune the 2nd string we be a little innovative. This is because this string is tuned 4 frets higher than the 3rd, the others are tuned 5 frets higher so this technique has to be altered here. Play the harmonic on the 3rd string at the 12th fret this is the G note, then FRET the 8th fret on the 2nd string again the note is G of course! Now use your strumming hand to turn the tuning peg and tune the string!
Back to normal now, tune the 1st string 7th fret harmonic to the 2nd string 5th fret harmonic.
Try this tuning technique with distortion on as this really makes the wavering sound stand out.
This is a great way to tune your guitar and is a much more accurate method than the conventional manual tuning method.
Now we'll move onto the last in this series of three on harmonics. The third is a look at pinched harmonics that's also known at artificial or false harmonics.
To create this type of harmonic we need to touch the string very slightly with the side of the thumb immediately after you have plucked it. To get the best effect you need to have your distortion/overdrive turned on and sounds like a screech. Here is how we do it: Move your picking hand up and down the string whilst picking constantly to find where the different harmonic notes are found.
Listen to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top he's a master of this technique.
Remember practice equals progress!!
About the Author:
About The Author: Mike Jones is a Professional Guitar Tutor. Offering Guitar Lessons geared to bringing the beginner through to an accomplished player in the shortest possible time, using amazing speed learning techniques developed over two decades of teaching and playing guitar as a professional. To find out more about Mike's teaching methods and receive FREE tips and tricks each week visit his website at: Guitar Lessons
0 comments:
Post a Comment